Wednesday 14^th January - Day at Sea.

 

Happy birthday Rebecca!

 

Finally managed to get tickets for the Planetarium tonight and after three days actually found the pub on board!! (Hard to believe, I know) Took part in a trivia quiz and were rubbish….

 

 

The “Passport to the Universe” show in the Planetarium was a bit dated even though Tom Hanks narrated. (Not in person, unfortunately)

 

When we got to the restaurant tonight the Sommelier produced another bottle of Malbec to beat the fact that an additional 10% Spanish VAT needs to be added to all drinks sold whilst in Spanish waters! Thought it was rude to refuse – so agreed to buy it now and drink it tomorrow when we’re in Barcelona.

 

The show tonight was “Power of 2” featuring Ilia and Elena. Didn’t sound promising but was actually very good. They are a Russian couple who trained as gymnasts, have been triathletes and have worked in the Russian State Circus and more recently in the Cirque Solei in Paris. Nesta says she was impressed with Ilia’s buttocks – although she wouldn’t recognise his face if he came to sit next to us!

 

 

Thursday 15^th January – Barcelona.

 

When we arrived, we parked next to The Norwegian Spirit again! Bit of a coincidence - wonder if they’re doing the same cruise as us?

 

We were due to sail away tonight at 5-30pm but as it was a nice day the Captain decided we could stay until 11-30pm! The fact that we were taking on (cheaper than Southampton) fuel all day may have had something to do with this decision but we like to think the Captain is being nice.

 

As we’ve previously visited Gaudi’s cathedral and Las Ramblas, we walked to the World Trade Centre and then went to Port Vell and then along the boardwalk to Barcelonetta beach as far as Port Olympic – about three and a half miles! The sun was shining but the breeze was cool – good tanning weather, hopefully. Better than the snow and ice we see parts of Blighty are suffering at the moment.

 

The terminal building advertises free Wi-Fi so we hope to update the blog (and possibly skype the kids) tonight.

 

Unfortunately when we got there, the place was in darkness and we couldn’t get any Wi-Fi coverage … so it was back to the ship and update the blog there – but no! We couldn’t even get on-line in the ship. What a disappointment.

 

We dined in the Britannia Restaurant and then decided to give the MacDonald brothers second show a miss, because the G32 (the QM2’s nightclub) was advertising a “Stones and Who” night. When we got there, though, the music was mainly soul, motown and reggae. Not bad, but not enough for us to “strut our stuff”!

 

The ship finally finished taking on heavy fuel, gas-oil and drinking water at about 1-30am and so we set sail for Italy at shortly before 2am.

 

 

Friday 16^th January – Day at Sea.

 

We had a lazy morning followed by brunch in the “Kings Court” – form of self-service restaurant. When we returned to our cabin we discovered that we had been invited to a World Voyage Cocktail Party with the captain on Sunday evening…..so, looking forward to “hobnobbing” it with the “hoi-polloi” once again.

 

In the afternoon, Nesta went to choir practice – Ian decided he would give this a miss! We discovered that our wine-tasting trip tomorrow starts at 7-55am, which is a bit early – even for Nesta!

 

We ate in the Kings Court and went to the early show by the ship’s entertainment crew. They have 12 dedicated dancers and 4 singers. Altogether a more professional than the team on Voyager, although if VoD had spent the money on sets and costumes that Cunard have, we’re sure Jade et al would have sounded better too!

 

 

Saturday 17^th January – Civitavecchia, the port of Rome.

 

Up before dawn! The ship parked at 7am and we were off on our trip by 8-15am.

 

As we took our seats on the coach we thought that something wasn’t quite right… and then we realised what it was. Austin wasn’t sitting in the seat in front of us – so how could we be 100% sure we were on the right trip? But then again, when we thought about it, Austin probably wouldn’t be on this trip would he - because as we all know…. You don’t really drink, do you Austin?!

 

We travelled to Marta, a small fishing village on the banks of Lake Bolsena (a dormant volcanic caldera). Today is St Anthony’s Day where they celebrate their animals by building a giant bonfire! We thought it was rather too near to the shops but they’ve probably done it before!

 

We then went to Montefiascone where the winery is.

 

We started the tasting with “Est Est Est” a local wine that went well with the tomato bruschetta and olive oil. So, we bought a bottle….

 

We then were given a taste of “Pensiero”, which went well with the pork pate and salami provided. So we bought two bottles…..

 

Finally we had the “Don Carlo” which is the signature wine of the place. This complemented the local meats we were given and whether it was due to the fact that we were a little tipsy or that it was a really nice red wine…. We bought three bottles!

 

After returning to the ship and re-hydrating we walked the mile and a half into Civitavecchia itself. We found a McDonalds so we could use Wi-Fi but our bad luck continued. We could not register with the Italian network without a smart phone (laptops are so old-hat now!) so it was back to the ship, so Ian could listen to the football scores!

 

Interesting football fact!! Today is the first time that Tranmere have won back to back home games since we were away on our last trip in March 2013!!

 

We ate in the Kings Court again and then went to see Pete Matthews - billed as Britain’s funniest (only?) juggler…. Didn’t have high expectations but he was actually really humorous and entertaining.

 

 

Sunday 18^th January 2015 – Day at Sea.

 

After morning tea, we went to the church service again. This week there was a different pianist and he played all the right tunes – but very slowly! Third time lucky next week?

 

We arrived off the small island of Stromboli at 11-30am and the Captain assured us that its volcano was inactive but a flash of lightning and a loud thunderclap immediately after he had spoken gave us reason to doubt him!

 

We picked up a pilot to guide us through the Straits of Messini between Italy and Sicily which are only 1.9 miles wide. Nesta managed to video him coming aboard and took some pictures of him disembarking an hour or so later. There were Force 6 winds and a choppy sea but as with all pilots we have seen he made the transfer down a rope ladder from the ship onto a moving boat appear very easy.